Apparatus fob copying lettees



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

A. LEMUEL ADAMS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR COPYING LETTERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 30,283, dated October 9, 1860.

To all whom it may concer/n:

Be it known that I, A. LEMUEL ADAMS, of the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Letter-Copying Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of letter copying apparatus in which a roller and apron are used for folding up and compressing the document to be copied, and the damp copying paper, and my improvement consists in the employment of movable retaining hooks or their equivalents for retaining the roller after the papers, have by its aid, been rolled up in the folds of the apron thereby relieving` the operator from the necessity of holding the rollers in the desired position while the copy is produced.

In order to enable others to make and use my invention I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

On reference to the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, Figures L and 2 are end views of my improved letter copying machine with part of the roller cutaway. F ig. 3 a plan view of part of the same and Fig. t a view illustrating my improvement as applied to a letter copying book.

A represents a board the length and breadth of which has to be determined by the size of the sheet to be copied.

B is the roller, at the opposite ends of which are formed handles b, suitable for being grasped by the hands of t-he operator.

An apron C shown by red lines is attached, at one end to the roller B, and at the opposite end to the board A.

The above described parts are somewhat similar as regards their form and the duties which they perform to those of other roller copying machines the roller being in the first instance turned toward the front edge of the board A as seen in Fig. 1, after which the document to be copied, the damp copying paper, oil cloth and whatever padding may be deemed necessary, are placed on the apron C, the handles b b of the roller B being then grasped by the two hands, the apron pulled tight and the front end of the board bearing against the body of the operator who now turns the roller gradually to the point shown in Fig. 2. It has been usual heretofore for the operator to hold the roller tight in this position until the desired impression has been imparted to the copying paper and my present improvement has been designed for the purpose of relieving him from this duty.

A rod D shown in dotted lines Fig. 8 eX- tends across the board A near the rear end of the latter, to which it is hinged, and the opposite ends of the rod are provided with hooks CZ fl which by the turning of the rod can be made to assume the two positions shown in Figs. l and 2. When the operator has moved the roller to the position shown in the latter figure he elevates the hooked ends of the rod and passes them over recesses formed in the handles of the roller which is thus retained without further manipulation until the desired impression has been produced after which the hooked ends Z (Z of the rod D are turned back and the roller is relieved.

Substantially the same device is shown in Fig. 4L as applied to an ordinary letter copying book. A rod D to which the apron C of the roller B is attached is placed in the folds of an open book as seen in the gure and a bar H is passed through the bent ends of the rod D so as to retain the said rod in position during the operation of the roller and its apron. This bar H is provided at one or both ends with a movable hook which serves to retain the roller after one of the sheets of the book with the document to be copied has been rolled up in the folds of the apron.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The employment of the retaining hooks cl (l or their equivalents, in combination with the roller B and its apron C whether the said roller and apron are used in connection with the board A or are applied directly to a copying book as set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

A. LEMUEL ADAMS.

IVitnesses HENRY HowsoN, JOHN WHITE. 

